Environmental

  • It seems pecan trees are lagging behind this year. Well, what is going on exactly and what does this mean? The timing of pecan budbreak and fruit set is determined by a combination of chill hours accumulated in the dormant season and heat units accumulated in spring. If we have a cold winter and accumulate…

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  • The temperatures over the Easter weekend dipped down a little further than forecast in a few areas in the state. April 3 saw the lowest temps of the weekend. While temps in Ft. Valley area reached 32, there were low lying areas that dropped down to as low as 26 degrees. UGA weather stations in…

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  • Easter Cold Snap and Pecans

    With budbreak on the move, I’ve fielded questions the last couple days about the potential effects of the upcoming cold weather on pecans. Many varieties and locations are just beginning to see a little budbreak while others are a little further along. Usually you have to get down to 28 degrees or less for several…

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  • Budbreak has arrived for south Georgia pecans. I noticed a few Cape Fear and Elliot trees beginning to break bud this weekend. I am sure over the next week or two we will see this progress more and the orchards will soon take on that lime green hue of spring to kick off the new…

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  • Shuck Decline

    Growers are starting to see symptoms of shuck decline in the orchard. Symptoms range from shucks turning all the way black to the tips green shucks turning black and peeling back at the suture. In some cases, kernels are black and in other cases, there is no kernel. The degree of declining shucks is different…

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  • Georgia pecan growers were fortunate to have largely escaped any serious effects from Hurricane Sally, which weakened to a Tropical Depression as it moved through the state Wednesday evening and through the night of (9/16-9/17). Most growers I have heard from report only minor damage from limbs breaking out, which was already occurring from the…

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  • Water Stage Fruit Split

    If you haven’t seen it already this year, you will likely be seeing water stage fruit split occurring over the next couple of weeks. This is a common problem that happens annually on certain varieties and is just part of growing those cultivars. I have copied the blog post from around this time in 2014…

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